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Could you get a place by shining at interview/entrance exam...

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Reply 40
Avatar for Sk1lLz
Sk1lLz
Xei
I always feel very arrogant when I say this but I honestly think that it should only take two or three days' of hard slogging to completely learn an AS or A2 (especially in the sciences)... I did it several times and got 90%s pretty much every time.

If that's completely self teaching yourself from scratch, I think that's practically impossible. However, if that's revision then that's possible.
Reply 41
Avatar for O-Ren
O-Ren
OP
15
annab1684
Check the undergraduate admissions handbook : 'If an applicant achieves less than 80% in relevant AS and/or A2 units and also has a weak GCSE portfolio then an interview will be unlikely. Colleges may, if appropriate, choose not to interview some applicants with more than 80% in relevant AS and/or A2 level units. '
http://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/offices/admissions/handbook/section2/2_6.html


Yeah, my gcses are good (8A*s 2 As from a state school) but they were so long ago now they might be irrelevant. I guess when they say 'relevant' modules for me that would only be maths which I got A*A*A*A*CE (overall B).

:frown:
They wouldn't be irrelevant. I've only read the opening post but things tend to be a bit different for mature applicants.. if you are one? :s-smilie:
Best thing to do is ask an admissions tutor :smile:
Reply 43
Avatar for O-Ren
O-Ren
OP
15
annab1684
They wouldn't be irrelevant. I've only read the opening post but things tend to be a bit different for mature applicants.. if you are one? :s-smilie:
Best thing to do is ask an admissions tutor :smile:


Not a mature applicant. Perhaps I should ask.


Bit scared though :o:
O-Ren
Not a mature applicant. Perhaps I should ask.


Bit scared though :o:


just e-mail an admissions tutor.
I sent a really rambling e-mail about my school and the way they do languages and stuff and I got a really helpful one back :smile:
O-Ren
Yes, but cambridge give interviews to pretty much everyone whereas oxford don't.. so perhaps oxford applicants are less likely to be given a chance to prove themselves at interview? or do all oxford subjects have entrance exams..


Oxford interviews 80% of students in most subjects. That's still the majority of candidates!

Not all subjects have entrance exams. You'd have to look up whether Maths does. I'd assume so but don't know :smile:
Reply 46
Avatar for O-Ren
O-Ren
OP
15
The_Lonely_Goatherd
Oxford interviews 80% of students in most subjects. That's still the majority of candidates!

Not all subjects have entrance exams. You'd have to look up whether Maths does. I'd assume so but don't know :smile:


Maths does have an entrance exam which you sit before they decide whether to interview you, so that could solve my problems really.. I assume a good mark on it would cancel out bad grades.

However, the reason I like the maths course at Cam is because it allows you to take theoretical physics optional modules from the first year, whereas Oxford (like Imperial) is completely rigid.
O-Ren
Maths does have an entrance exam which you sit before they decide whether to interview you, so that could solve my problems really.. I assume a good mark on it would cancel out bad grades.

However, the reason I like the maths course at Cam is because it allows you to take theoretical physics optional modules from the first year, whereas Oxford (like Imperial) is completely rigid.


Fair enough if you prefer the course at Cambridge, it's just your post was acting like there's a ginormous difference in the amount of applicants interviewed! I was just pointing out it's not the case, in case that was a major factor in you going for Cambridge instead :smile:
KiiNGofLONDON
That's a little ignorant. Some people are incredibly gifted but just don't have the drive to work for exams the way some people do. Most of the people who get A*'s this year will be those who are smart, but more importantly, ridiculously hard-working. A lot of the truly smartest kids at school under-achieve because they weren't challenged enough for most of their academic life. These are the guys that go on to become great thinkers, largely because universities offer them the challenges that they've required their whole life.


And this, is one huge factor in why I want to apply to Cambridge.
jcb914
That makes no sense whatsoever. You do realise that assessment at Cambridge is also by exam? The Director of Studies who interviews you will be partially responsible for your performance. They want students who can perform well in the tripos examinations. Evidence that you have performed well in exams before demonstrates this.

If one is lazy or "undriven" before they arrive at Cambridge, chances are they will be the same when they get here.


smh @ you deducing that because I didn't make the same clumsy assumption as you (that lazy is the same as undriven - put yourself in the shoes of someone who has found school work trivial since the age of about 10, and try to convince yourself you wouldn't have slacked a little on the revision front), what I said makes no sense. Tut tut. I explicitly said, and I'll QFT:

KiiNGofLONDON
These are the guys that go on to become great thinkers, largely because universities offer them the challenges that they've required their whole life.


Which clarifies why I think universities may see through the odd bad exam if it's clear someone possesses a particularly gifted mind - they feel their university could really challenge them in a way they've never been so before, and thus give them the drive they needed at school.
general answer, yes

but doing well in the extrance tests involves getting in the top 5% or so of people taking it. i.e. very intelligent

any worse than that, and it isn't really "shining".
AnonyMatt
And this, is one huge factor in why I want to apply to Cambridge.


Woah check the post below, we highlighted the same part bar one word. Me too. I haven't really been challenged at school at any point in my life. I hope that changes at university, wherever I end up.
Reply 52
Avatar for O-Ren
O-Ren
OP
15
SouthernFreerider
general answer, yes

but doing well in the extrance tests involves getting in the top 5% or so of people taking it. i.e. very intelligent

any worse than that, and it isn't really "shining".


Remember about the STEP though. The general practise is to give offers to anyone who seems likely to get two grade ones, surely they wouldn't need someone to get a crazy-high entrance exam/interview score just to prove that?

Maybe I should just email and ask.
KiiNGofLONDON
Woah check the post below, we highlighted the same part bar one word. Me too. I haven't really been challenged at school at any point in my life. I hope that changes at university, wherever I end up.


:smile:

Sadly, it's my one and only selling point in my PS really.
It's valid, but I can't help but think it seems like I'm making excuses.
I am, but, can you blame me? :p:
Reply 54
Avatar for around
around
13
O-Ren
Remember about the STEP though. The general practise is to give offers to anyone who seems likely to get two grade ones, surely they wouldn't need someone to get a crazy-high entrance exam/interview score just to prove that?

Maybe I should just email and ask.


They give that offer to anyone who they think has a reasonable chance of making it. Even then 1/3rds of people this year failed it, and that was a fairly low failure rate as these things go.

Even then not everyone gets an offer. Clare only gave offers to about a third of their Maths applicants this year.
Reply 55
Avatar for aKarma
aKarma
11
KiiNGofLONDON
That's a little ignorant. Some people are incredibly gifted but just don't have the drive to work for exams the way some people do. Most of the people who get A*'s this year will be those who are smart, but more importantly, ridiculously hard-working. A lot of the truly smartest kids at school under-achieve because they weren't challenged enough for most of their academic life. These are the guys that go on to become great thinkers, largely because universities offer them the challenges that they've required their whole life.


I imagine Xei was suggesting the brightest would get 90%+ without working hard/revising. Especially for the sciences, you can just turn up and the exams give you enough time to work everything out from basic principles.

I'm not denying that one of the ways to get 90% is hard work, but I'm just saying it's not necessary for all
KiiNGofLONDON
That's a little ignorant. Some people are incredibly gifted but just don't have the drive to work for exams the way some people do. Most of the people who get A*'s this year will be those who are smart, but more importantly, ridiculously hard-working. A lot of the truly smartest kids at school under-achieve because they weren't challenged enough for most of their academic life. These are the guys that go on to become great thinkers, largely because universities offer them the challenges that they've required their whole life.

Its not being ignorant at all. The whole point of the introduction of the A* grade is to distinguish the brightest students in the UK from the rest. Frankly speaking as well, the smart students can often walk through school with doing little to no work, even up to A-Level and still get AAA or higher. At my school in my year, the truly smartest people did not underachive at all, they came top in the year and got straight A's. There are others though that need to put the work in to get the results who are gifted, but are not the top students in the UK.
Reply 57
Avatar for O-Ren
O-Ren
OP
15
around
They give that offer to anyone who they think has a reasonable chance of making it. Even then 2/3rds of people this year failed it, and that was a fairly low failure rate as these things go.

Even then not everyone gets an offer. Clare only gave offers to about a third of their Maths applicants this year.


oh :frown:

Is it about a third throughout the university, or a Clare anomaly.

Perhaps I should apply to one which has an entrance exam? Unfortunately the only one with a longish entrance exam is Trinity and it would probably be silly to apply there, expecially as from what I've read on TSR they seem to do the de-selection thing more than the others.
I honestly think it depends on the interviewer. Mine told me the written test and interview was the most important thing, and that if you could get AAA he didn't really care how high the As were. He also doesn't care about GCSEs that much. That said, this was for philosophy (I imagine with NatSci for example getting 90%+ in science subjects is pretty important, whereas not many people have studied philosophy before applying so it is the interview and written exam that matters)

Basically, they're important, but an impressive written test and interview could compensate.
Reply 59
Avatar for Xei
Xei
6
around
They give that offer to anyone who they think has a reasonable chance of making it. Even then 2/3rds of people this year failed it, and that was a fairly low failure rate as these things go.

Even then not everyone gets an offer. Clare only gave offers to about a third of their Maths applicants this year.

No that isn't how it went...

Only 1/3 failed this year; although you're right, that's very low compared to the average.

Cambridge makes offers to about double the number of places they have, because they expect STEP to knock half of them out.

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